Before we go further, let’s clear up the bill’s false implication right now:

The Employee Free Choice Act would not—repeat after me—would not, take away the secret ballot National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election process if workers seeking to form a union wanted to use it. The Employee Free Choice would ensure workers made the decision of whether to select a union via majority sign-up (card-check) or via ballot process. Choice is good. That’s one reason why we called it Employee Free Choice—because it would enable employees, not management, to make the decision of how to form a union.

The official goal of S. 1312 is to:

amend the National Labor Relations Act to ensure the right of employees to a secret-ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board.

But the real objective of the DeMint-Enzi—and, of course, the autoworker-hating senator from Tennessee, Bob Corker—crowd is to force senators to be on record in support of it before the Employee Free Choice Act is up for a vote and to get free PR for their lies.

In announcing the bill, DeMint put out this gem:

“Card check” is completely unacceptable and un-American, and we must pass the Secret Ballot Protection Act to safeguard workers’ rights for good.

Since Enzi brought up “un-American,” let’s take a look at that term. Seems actions like providing health care for low-income children, ensuring America’s workers are paid overtime and have a safe workplace where they are not paid less because of their gender or race are all-American standards. But not so for DeMint. A quick look at his Senate voting record shows:

DeMint voted at least seven times against expanding health care for children (the State Children’s Health Insurance Program). DeMint voted three times against protecting overtime pay for millions of workers. DeMint opposed workplace safety standards. DeMint voted against Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which helps ensure workers are not paid less because of gender or race. The same day the Big Lie bill was introduced, 39 economists, including two Nobel Prize winners, issued a statement supporting the Employee Free Choice Act as key to getting our nation’s economy back on its feet. Their statement says in part:

Indeed, from 2000 to 2007, the income of the median working-age household fell by $2,000—an unprecedented decline. In that time, virtually all of the nation’s economic growth went to a small number of wealthy Americans. An important reason for the shift from broadly shared prosperity to growing inequality is the erosion of workers’ ability to form unions and bargain collectively.

Yet as Mary Beth Maxwell, executive director of American Rights at Work, says:

At a time when more Americans are hurting financially than perhaps at any other time in our history, a small group of consistently anti-worker members of Congress are introducing legislation to make it harder for workers to negotiate for better pay and health care for themselves and their families. It is unconscionable that these Congressmen with six-figure salaries and guaranteed pensions choose to kick America’s workers when they are down. This ploy is no surprise, as they have voted against raising the minimum wage, expanding children’s health insurance and ensuring worker safety.

Here’s another lie the bill’s sponsors are pushing out, this via Think Progress:

DeMint took to Fox News to describe why he thinks his firewall is necessary. Amidst the usual false rhetoric about Employee Free Choice eliminating the secret ballot, DeMint also incorrectly claimed that the act would harm small businesses:

And this is not just for big auto companies, this is for small electrical contractors, companies with 10 or 15 people. It would change the business model of the United States to the same model the U.S. auto industry has in Detroit.

As Think Progress points out, DeMint has this all wrong. The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) excludes non-retail employers whose interstate commerce is less than $50,000 and retail employers whose gross annual volume is less than $500,000; there are various other size exemptions for all sorts of industries, from newspapers to taxicab companies. These exemptions would not change under the Employee Free Choice Act.

“Arkansans FOR the Secret Ballot—Protect your Privacy at Work,” the coalition formed by the State Chamber/AIA to oppose the proposed federal Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), aka Card Check, held outreach meetings recently to educate businesses throughout the state.

Michael Eastman, executive director, Labor Law Policy, and Glenn Spencer, executive director of the Workforce Freedom Initiative, both part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, provided presentations on EFCA in the following locations: Monticello, Magnolia, Little Rock, Maumelle, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, West Memphis, Conway and Fort Smith.

EFCA is a drastic and dangerous piece of legislation that ­if passed ­will be the most radical change to labor law in more than 60 years. It will be brought before Congress in early 2009. The proposal takes away the long-held tradition of using secret ballots for union elections. Instead, the union leaders propose using a card check system ­– a process where votes are cast in public and can be collected by union leaders at a worker’s job, home or on-line.

What you can do:

· Join the coalition by calling the State Chamber/AIA office and ask to be added to the Arkansans FOR the Secret Ballot coalition.· Send a letter (by fax or to district offices) to Senators Lincoln and Pryor and your Congressman.· Make an appointment to see Senators Lincoln and Pryor and your Congressman and tell them how this will affect your business and the community.· Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.· Spread the word about EFCA and ask other members of your community to join the Arkansans FOR the Secret Ballot.

All State Chamber/AIA members are strongly encouraged to spread the word about this issue to fellow members of the business community as well as to employees. It is vitally important that our members of Congress hear the business perspective on this issue.

If EFCA passes, it will strip workers and businesses of critical rights and protections. Please join the Arkansans FOR the Secret Ballot and help us protect privacy and promote democracy in the workplace.